Heat pipe structure with deformable wick structure

ABSTRACT

A heat pipe includes a pipe and a wick structure disposed therein. The pipe has a longitudinal vapor passage. The wick structure has a strip-shaped main wick portion which passes the vapor passage and two positioning wick portions which separately connect to two ends of the main wick portion. Each positioning wick portion has a connection section and an abutting section extending therefrom. The connection sections separately connect the positioning wick portions to two ends of the main wick portion. The abutting sections abut against two opposite positions of an inside wall of the pipe.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The invention relates to wick structures, particularly to a heat pipe structure with a variable wick structure.

2. Related Art

Conventional wick structures in heat pipes, such as fiber or woven or curled metal mesh, must have residual stress after they have been woven or curled. Such residual stress will make the wick structures hard to keep a desired shape. As a result, the wick structures are difficult to be put in the pipe or to be at a correct position or in a correct shape.

Especially for a strip-shaped wick structure (such as a coaxially woven fiber wick structure), it is extremely difficult to keep a straight type in a heat pipe because of its long and thin shape. Although such a wick structure can be fixed in the pipe by sintering, it still tends to be deformed to lose its straight type when it is placed in the pipe before sintering because of the residual stress. This will cause an unexpected shape of the wick structure after sintering. Even the pipe may cave in when degassing. This is a really serious problem of design of wick structure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a heat pipe structure with a deformable wick structure, whose wick structure can be effectively positioned in the heat pipe and can be serve as a support which supports the pipe.

Another object of the invention is to provide a heat pipe structure with a deformable wick structure, whose wick structure can keep a desired shape to be sintered in the heat pipe.

To accomplish the above object, the heat pipe of the invention includes a pipe and a wick structure disposed therein. The pipe has a longitudinal vapor passage. The wick structure has a strip-shaped main wick portion which passes the vapor passage and two positioning wick portions which separately connect to two ends of the main wick portion. Each positioning wick portion has a connection section and an abutting section extending therefrom. The connection sections separately connect the positioning wick portions to two ends of the main wick portion. The abutting sections abut against two opposite positions of an inside wall of the pipe.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the third embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the fourth embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the fifth embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the sixth embodiment of the invention;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2, which are an exploded view and a perspective view of the first embodiment of the invention. The invention provides a heat pipe structure with a deformable wick structure, which includes a pipe 1 and a wick structure 2 disposed therein.

The pipe 1 is a long and hollow body and has a circular or flat cross-section. In the shown embodiment, the pipe 1 is flat as an example. Such a flat pipe 1 can be applied as an extra thin heat pipe (an outside thickness is less than 0.6 mm). As shown in FIG. 1, the pipe 1, before sealing, includes a pipe body 10 and an end portion 11 which is sealed at an end thereof. The pipe body 10 has a longitudinal vapor passage 100 (as shown in FIG. 3) communicating an opening at the other end of the pipe body 10 so that the wick structure 2 can be put in the vapor passage 100 through the opening. When the wick structure 2 has been put in the pipe 1 and a degassing process has been completed, the opening will be sealed to form another end portion 11′ with a sealing structure 12.

The wick structure 2 may be sintered powder, woven fiber or metal wires, or curled metal mesh and is disposed in the pipe 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the wick structure 2 includes a strip-shaped main wick portion 20 which passes the vapor passage 100 and two positioning wick portions 21, 21′ which separately connect two ends of the main wick portion 20. The main wick portion 20 is just received in the vapor passage 100, so that two sides of the main wick portion 20 keeps the vapor passage 100 unimpeded. Each positioning wick portion 21, 21′ has a connection section 210, 210′ and an abutting section 211, 211′ extending therefrom. The connection sections 210, 210′ separately connect the positioning wick portions 21, 21′ to two ends of the main wick portion 20. The abutting sections 211, 211′ extend to form free ends of the wick structure 2. In the first embodiment of the invention, the main wick portion 20 is diagonally arranged in the pipe 1 or vapor passage 100. And the two positioning wick portions 21, 21′ are bent at their respective connection sections 210, 210′ and extend toward a width direction of the pipe 1 in a straight shape. The invention arranges the two positioning wick portions 21, 21′ in opposite directions to separately abut against two opposite positions of two inside walls 101, 101′ of the pipe 1.

Therefore, by the above structure, the heat pipe structure with a deformable wick structure of the invention can be obtained.

Please refer to FIG. 3. Because the wick structure 2 is curved in the pipe 1, the two positioning wick portions 21, 21′ can make their abutting sections 211, 211′ separately abut against two opposite positions of the inside walls 101, 101′ of the pipe 1 by means of their own elastic restoring force. Thus the wick structure 2 can be positioned and shaped in the pipe 1. Of course, the wick structure 2 can also use the connection sections 210, 210′ to abut against the inside walls 101, 101′ of the pipe 1.

FIG. 4 shows the second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the abutting sections 211, 211′ are further bent along the inside walls 101, 101′ to separately abut against the inside walls 101, 101′.

FIG. 5 shows the third embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the positioning wick portions 21, 21′ are bent to be semicircular, and each of the two end portions 11, 11′ is formed in a conic shape 110, 110′ for being abutted by the positioning wick portions 21, 21′.

FIG. 6 shows the fourth embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the main wick portion 20 is centrally arranged in the pipe 1 or vapor passage 100 and is parallel to a length direction of the pipe 1 or vapor passage 100.

FIG. 7 shows the fifth embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the main wick portion 20 is centrally arranged in the pipe 1 in a width direction and the two positioning portions 21, 21′ are separately bent to be two circles. The abutting sections 211, 211′ are arranged in the same direction to abut against the same inside wall 101. FIG. 8 shows the sixth embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the abutting sections 211, 211′ separately abut against the inside walls 101, 101′ and further extend to be parallel to a part of the main wick portion 20.

Therefore, by the invention, each of the positioning wick portions 21. 21′ can exert a force to the inside walls 101, 101′ through the restoring force of the wick structure 2 so that the wick structure 2 can be positioned and shaped in the pipe 1. The wick structure 2 can keep a desired shape to be sintered in the pipe 1. This can reduce the problem of deformation of the wick structure 2. Especially for the extra thin heat pipe, its limited space cannot allow a tool to be used. Thus it really needs the invention to automatically position and shape a wick structure.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the above embodiments have been described by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, and that various alterations and modifications are possible without departure from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A heat pipe structure comprising: a pipe, having a longitudinal vapor passage; and a wick structure, disposed in the pipe, having a strip-shaped main wick portion which passes the vapor passage and two positioning wick portions which separately connect to two ends of the main wick portion, two sides of the main wick portion keeping the vapor passage unimpeded, each positioning wick portion having a connection section and an abutting section extending therefrom, the connection sections separately connecting the positioning wick portions to two ends of the main wick portion, and the abutting sections separately abutting against an inside wall of the pipe.
 2. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the a cross-section of the pipe is circular or flat.
 3. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the pipe is less than 0.6 mm.
 4. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the pipe includes a pipe body and two end portions which separately seal two opposite ends of the pipe.
 5. The heat pipe structure of claim 4, wherein each of the two end portions is formed in a conic shape.
 6. The heat pipe structure of claim 5, wherein the positioning wick portions are bent to be semicircular to separately abut against the conic shapes.
 7. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the wick structure is sinter powder, woven fiber or metal wires, or a curled metal mesh.
 8. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the main wick portion is diagonally arranged in the pipe.
 9. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the main wick portion is centrally arranged in the pipe in a width direction.
 10. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the main wick portion is centrally arranged in the pipe to be parallel to a length direction of the pipe.
 11. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the two positioning wick portions are bent at their respective connection sections and extend toward a width direction to be a straight shape.
 12. The heat pipe structure of claim 11, wherein the abutting sections are further bent separately along the two inside walls of the pipe to abut against the inside walls.
 13. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the connection sections separately abut against the two inside walls of the pipe.
 14. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the abutting sections are arranged in two opposite directions to abut against two opposite inside walls of the pipe in a width direction.
 15. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the abutting sections are arranged in the same direction to abut against the same inside wall of the pipe. 